NoH2O

As of 10:30 AM on Saturday, there is still no hot water. The cold water is but a dribble. Our cook tells us that there is no hot water in her apartment building, on another courtyard than ours.

The Soviet way of supplying hot water and steam for domestic and heating use was to have central heating plants. A complex network of above-ground pipes carries the water and steam to apartment buildings, individual houses, and other buildings. You can see an example of a couple of pipes here.

This was done for reasons of efficiency and economy. Any problems in the heating apparatus could be fixed quickly and in one place by trained engineers. You only need to have one type of parts, not many different types for different brands of equipment. This also fit in quite nicely with the general Soviet proclivity towards centralizing functions and facilities. Why have many little somethings when one big something will do, and look good in the process?

So we assume that a team of trained engineers is working feverishly to restore our hot water.